This invention relates to shelf assemblies for refrigerators and, more particularly, to such shelves which are flexible in use and economical in manufacture.
Modern refrigerators often include cantilevered shelves, that is the shelf structure is supported by support arms or beams which are mounted in a cantilever fashion from slotted brackets attached to the rear wall of the refrigerator. These brackets are sometimes called ladder treaks because they resemble ladders. However, while such cantilever support is vertically adjustable within the refrigerator, the shelf is not normally moveable upon the supports.
Often drawers and sometimes shelves are horizontally movable between an open position, partly out of the refrigerator, and a closed position, fully received in the refrigerator. However, normally such drawers are not vertically moveable within the refrigerator and such shelves are mounted with mechanisms that provide at most only limited vertical adjustability.
At one time some refrigerators included open wire shelf structures mounted on cantilever supports so as to be horizontally and vertically adjustable. However, such assemblies were expensive and lacked optimal multi-purpose use of certain components.
The present invention provides an improved shelf assembly which has a vertically adjustable mount and is movable in the horizontal direction for ease of loading and unloading while making economical use of its components.